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Report - - Clawson Tunnel 09-2012 | Other Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Clawson Tunnel 09-2012

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Punk

Punkus Explorus
28DL Full Member
Clawson Tunnel, also known as either Scalford or Hose Tunnel, was built in 1879 and closed in 1964. It was ion the Great Northern and London North Western Railways. It is 834 yards (762 Meters) long. It looks as if it's a cut and cover job rather than boring through the ground. The south Portal is slightly hidden but very accessible, the north portal however is very overgrown so the only access route is from the south. There is a conveniently placed footpath going past quite close to the south portal. In the area there are lots of stories about the tunnel, a guy in my local told me that there was 2 tunnels that met this one in the middle and although there is brickwork to support this rumor, Myself and my friend, after doing extensive research found no evidence to support this. We did, however, find out there was an engine explosion in 1906. We could find no other information on this incident. Other local rumors say that there was a murder in the tunnel in the seventies but I can't find any information to support this. One notable fact about this tunnel is that it had a reputation for trains getting stuck whilst coming out of the south portal due to the high gradient coming out.
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The South Entrance hidden away
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South Portal
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This is in the centre of the tunnel, This is different brickwork to the rest of the tunnel which is blue brick. This is where we think either the train exploded or where the rumour meetin of tunnels was
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A Collapsed drain
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Light at the end of the tunnel, facing the Northern Portal
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Water leaking through the brickwork
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I spoke to a guy from the local village, Scalford. And he said that during the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak, the farmer bought loads of chicken hutches in case he lost his herd of cattle
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Pacman
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Corroding interior
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The north portal from inside the tunnel
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Another collapsed drain
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North portal
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Sandvika

28DL Member
28DL Member
Clawson Tunnel, also known as either Scalford or Hose Tunnel, was built in 1879 and closed in 1964. ... One notable fact about this tunnel is that it had a reputation for trains getting stuck whilst coming out of the south portal due to the high gradient coming out.

It's worth pointing out that the cutting at the southern approach has been partially infilled. The road bridge is long gone and the present parking area would have been high in the air! The cutting would have been just wide enough for the double track railway, the overall width of it to the south portal is pretty consistent but the steep gradient and increasing width at the bottom approaching the road is due to the infilling. If the railway engineers had wanted to raise the track level to the current ground level they would have averaged out the gradient over a much longer distance which would have resulted in a more obvious gradient within the tunnel as well as a rather shorter tunnel.

I cannot say whether the original gradient was sufficient to induce wheel slip in the locomotives but I think the present profile would have been impossible for a heavy train to negotiate.
 

Punk

Punkus Explorus
28DL Full Member
It's worth pointing out that the cutting at the southern approach has been partially infilled. The road bridge is long gone and the present parking area would have been high in the air! The cutting would have been just wide enough for the double track railway, the overall width of it to the south portal is pretty consistent but the steep gradient and increasing width at the bottom approaching the road is due to the infilling. If the railway engineers had wanted to raise the track level to the current ground level they would have averaged out the gradient over a much longer distance which would have resulted in a more obvious gradient within the tunnel as well as a rather shorter tunnel.

I cannot say whether the original gradient was sufficient to induce wheel slip in the locomotives but I think the present profile would have been impossible for a heavy train to negotiate.

Yes, there has been an infill, but there was already a steep gradient(by rail standards). The were times where a Loco was sent to help trains around this area.
 

pigdog

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
indeed hopse tunnel was well known for trains to get stuck in it esp when stating off from hose station whice was not too far from the portal
 

pigdog

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
just noticed your writeing under your pics couple of thngs il correct you 1 the out break of foot and mouth had nothing to do with the chicking coops in there as they was in there in 90 when i 1st went there ,farmer up te road said some guy had bourght the tunnel to use as a chicking farm but fell out wirth the land owners round it and they woudnt give him acess ,might be true as theres no BPB markings in there and 2 th drains aint collapesd as they used to have metal lids on thm whice the salvage train took with them
 

Punk

Punkus Explorus
28DL Full Member
just noticed your writeing under your pics couple of thngs il correct you 1 the out break of foot and mouth had nothing to do with the chicking coops in there as they was in there in 90 when i 1st went there ,farmer up te road said some guy had bourght the tunnel to use as a chicking farm but fell out wirth the land owners round it and they woudnt give him acess ,might be true as theres no BPB markings in there and 2 th drains aint collapesd as they used to have metal lids on thm whice the salvage train took with them

You said that when the post was first posted, I was going on word of mouth at the time
 
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